ATLA: Children of Fire and Air
by NatNicole
Summary: Rina, Jiana and Anay lived like any other youngsters. But they are far from normal... Summary sucks, but story ought to be better. Rated T (WILL change to M for violence and other stuff).
1. Chapter 1

And my stupidity amazes even myself. Seriously, I don't know why I start new fics when the old ones give me more than enough trouble.

Anyhoo, this one was inspired by an ATLA fic where a guy named Tom ends up in Avatar-verse and, in my opinion, kicks some serious butt! I've tried writing my own normal-person-ends-up-in-ATLA fic a while back, but it was too much of a copy and so I scrapped it.

NO Mary-Sues. Seriously, I aim to make my OCs as flawed as possible just so they won't be Mary-Sues and a toddler Gary Stu.

Disclaimer: Oh, come on! You can't possibly be dumb enough to think I own Avatar: The Last Airbender! If I did, I would have fixed all the MANY mistakes 'What Should Have Happened In ATLA' fic points out plus added some stuff that woulda made the story more exciting and realistic. So, I DO NOT and never will own ATLA.

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**BOOK 1: AIR**

* * *

**Chapter 1. Arrow-Head acquaintance**

* * *

[Third person POV]

A 12-year-old girl with dark gray eyes and a messy mop of black hair was standing on her hands on a small grassy field. She wore a yellow T-shirt and denim blue boys' jeans that had been cut into shorts. The girl was barefoot, and her bangs had an orange bandanna that was tied to her head like a headband underneath them.

Nearby, an 18-year-old girl who resembled her but had her long hair tied up in a ponytail and amber eyes instead of dark gray was sitting on the grass. She was dressed in fashionable new jeans and a pale pink tank top with a pink glitter heart on the right side. The girl looked relaxed, smiling a tiny bit at the younger girl's antics.

The last person was a toddler, aged only 5 years. He had on a blue and white striped sailor shirt, and dark blue trousers. The resemblance to both girls, especially to the 12-year-old, was obvious. The little boy played with a small ball, kicking it and then running after it until he could pick it up, place it on the ground before him and kick it again.

It was a nice summer day in the park, with the sounds of children playing at the swings and such, parents chatting and young people having ball games echoing around. There were only a couple small fluffy clouds in the sky.

"Ya know, I'm starting to get bored," the short-haired girl complained, doing a half-cartwheel to stand on her feet. "I'm gonna go explore a bit. See ya!"

Without waiting for an answer, she dashed off. "Jiana!" the teen called after her, but her shout was ignored. She huffed annoyedly, and if one looked closely they could see the invisible water in the air before her mouth turning into steam.

Jiana raced along with light steps, looking at other people enjoying summer holidays' start and feeling the pleasant breeze cooling her fair skin the tiniest bit. She reached the bottom of a small hill, where a little rivulet with trees framing it was.

The preteen went closer and crouched by the water, putting her hand in. Jiana grinned mischievously, saying to no-one in particular: "Now, if only I had my water balloons with me..."

There was the sound of a splash, which made Jiana jump up in surprise. She took some running steps beside the rivulet, quickly finding the source.

Jiana gasped at the sight of a strange young child no older than herself lying in the water face down. She quickly waded in and helped him to his feet as the boy started waking up. He spluttered, spitting out the water that had gotten into his mouth.

Wordlessly, Jiana guided him out of the rivulet and they sat down on some grass several feet away in front of a bush. Once the boy had finished with the spitting, Jiana asked curiously: "Who are you?"

The boy blinked, his gray eyes (a lighter shade than Jiana's) returning the confused and curious look he was receiving from her. "My name's Aang," he replied. "What's yours?"

"I'm Jiana," Jiana replied, now even more confused.

"So you're from the Fire Nation?"

"Fire... Nation?"

"Yeah. Your name's a Fire Nation one. I learnt all about them from one of my best friends."

"..."

"Are you okay?" The boy, Aang, started to feel creeped out by the way Jiana brought her face close to his and looked giddy. She had started to smile and by now it was such a large grin it might soon split her face.

[Jiana's POV]

_NO FREAKING WAY! It's him, really **him**! How is it possible for the most important main character from one of my favourite TV shows to be here?_

_Who cares? He's right in front of me! Avatar Aang, the only airbender in existence. Sweet fudge, this is way cool!_

_Okay, calm down. You're creeping him out. I'm calm, calm, calm..._

_Forget calm! How about super excited instead! I'll ask him something. Umm... What to ask? Oh, I know!_

"Are you an airbending master?" I blurted out.

"Erm... If I say yes, will you move back a little?" Aang asked.

"Huh? Oops, sorry!" I scooted backwards half a foot and sat up better. "So are you?"

"Yep. Kinda obvious with these tattoos, isn't it?"

"Pretty much why I asked. Wanna meet my cousin and brother?"

"Sure!"

We got up and headed off, me in the lead. It didn't take long to reach them. Luckily, no-one seemed to notice Aang's strange appearance. I mean, he was bald! And had light turquoise arrow tattoos! And wore weird clothes! Although I doubt Rina would mind trying on something similar to his traditional Air Nomad clothing. My cousin **loved** clothes.

My brother Anay dropped the ball and raced over to us as fast as his little legs could carry. "Aang!" he cried out in recognition. Rina just stared wide-eyed.

"Hi there, little buddy. How'd you guess my name?" Aang greeted him, bending down to pat my brother's head.

"In case you didn't realize it yet, dear cousin," I said in a dramatic tone while waving my arms exaggeratingly between her and my new acquaintance, "we are in the presence of the one and only Arrow-Head, Avatar Aang."

[Rina's POV]

_Okay, when my cousin went off to explore without permission (again), I expected she might bring back a frog. Or a stray kitten. Hell, maybe even a tame squirrel._

_But I definitely did NOT expect she'd bring back one of the main characters of the show I used to love. I say used to because now I hate that show more than anything else in the universe._

"Jiana, care to explain WHAT THE HELL is going on here?!" _And there went my temper..._

My cousin had the sense to look sheepish, rubbing her nose with an index finger. "Well, ya see... I sorta found him by the water," she explained.

The bald kid looked between us in confusion, before asking: "Hey, how do you know I'm the Avatar? And how did this toddler know my name?"

"Does it matter? 'Sides, if ya keep a low profile, ya may get off lightly."

"Huh?" _Yup, he didn't get a word of it. Wonder if it was the country girl accent or the words themselves?_

"You have to hide your identity or people will bug you forever," Jiana translated. She then looked to me. "How do we do that, Rina?"

"We? The kid's on his own."

"What?! That's mean!"

"Ya have a point...?"

My cousin _oh-so-maturely_ stuck her tongue out and hooked an arm around that little weirdo's. She started pulling him along, taking Anay's hand when he wanted to go with.

I shook my head before getting up to follow them, picking up Anay's ball and Jiana's forgotten sandals as I went.

* * *

Those three kids were squashed on the living room sofa with Jiana in the middle holding our only laptop. To be specific, my laptop. Why I agreed to let her show Aang, dubbed Arrow-Head, something on it, I'll never know.

[Aang's POV]

_I'm REALLY confused about everything. Last thing I remember before waking up in the water, Appa and I were trying to avoid a storm but ended up in the ocean. I asked them if they've seen my flying bison, but they said no and that they can't help me find him. Oh well, I'll look for him later._

Jiana gave me one of her caps. It was red and I wore it on my head. I agreed to wear it since I didn't want more people recognizing me by my arrow. The arrows on my hands were hidden by her light orange fingerless gloves that matched my shawl.

Right now Jiana explained to me that the 'laptop' thing can do lots of stuff and runs on electricity. Which Rina said was basically lightning stored. _But that makes no sense! How can anyone store **lightning**?!_

Jiana now was moving the 'computer mouse' thing on her lap, making the tiny white arrow on that 'screen' thingy move too (she had mentioned that the 'screen' was like a window of sorts). There was this clicking sound, and then she pressed some of the many buttons that had strange little marks, one on each button.

More clicking. More button pushing. _Huh? What's that?_

Now the 'screen' showed some kind of a picture. It showed the kanji for water with a shadowed human in front of it. An old bald man with a beard, I think.

"This is called a cartoon video. It's a story but with moving pictures and sound," Jiana told me. _I guess that explains the picture._

She did the clicking again, and the picture started to move while a sound came from the 'laptop': _"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My Gran-Gran used to tell me about the old times, the times of peace.–"_

"I'll skip this bit so we can get to the fun part," Jiana said with a roll of her eyes. _I guess she's heard that introduction(?) a million times before._

Anay giggled as soon as he saw the picture show two people who most likely were designed based on Water Tribe children. One was a 13-year-old boy, the other a 12-year-old girl. They were in a canoe.

_"Sokka, look!"_ the girl said, holding up her arms with a round water bubble that had a fish inside it. _She's a waterbender!_

_"Ssh! You're going to scare it away!"_ the boy, Sokka, replied.

_"But, Sokka. I caught one."_

The bubble moved, and then the dull end of the boy's spear popped it. The water splashed him and the fish got away. All three of us laughed a little at that.

_"Why is it that every time you play with magic water, **I** get soaked?"_ Sokka demanded annoyedly.

The girl gave an exasperated sigh. _"It's not magic, it's waterbending. And it's–"_

_"Yeah, yeah, special talent, unique tour of our culture, blaa, blaa, blaa. Look, I'm just saying that if I had freaky powers, I would keep my weirdness to myself."_

_"You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection on the water."_

We burst out laughing! "That's just what he's doing!" I gasped through my laughs.

Jiana grinned, pulling the 'laptop' closer when it almost slid off her lap. "I know, right?" she replied, and I had to hold my hands over my mouth to make sure I won't start laughing even more.

Pretty soon the Water Tribe kids got into trouble with the currents and ended up stranded on an iceberg. They argued, and the girl, Katara, got so mad she started yelling and throwing her arms around. Her bending was too out of control and made the iceberg crack in half.

"Neat, huh, Arrow-Head?" Jiana said, turning to me before looking back at the 'screen'. I smiled. Even though being called Arrow-Head annoyed me a little, I figured it meant she considered me a friend.

The 'cartoon video' got really weird after that. There was glowing, and from the iceberg came... _ME?!_

_This... This is not possible! How can there be a little picture version of me there?_

He looked just like me, except cartoony(?) instead of real. _Now I'm really confused!_

"Jiana, who is that?" My voice was starting to shake a little; I really hoped it was a coincidence!

Rina came in just then carrying a small tray with glasses of juice and strange looking food on a plate that seemed to have been made from bread. She set the tray onto the floor nearby and asked: "What's going on? Why's bald urchin looking like he found a worm in an apple?"

"We're watching ATLA's first episode!" Anay declared happily, not noticing anything wrong.

"You're doing WHAT?! Jiana, have you **lost your mind**?! I swear, you're half a barrel short of being a **complete** moron!"

Jiana looked apologetic, closing the 'laptop'. She put it under the sofa, then asked: "Aang? Are you all right?"

I got up from the sofa and went to stand in front of them, crossing my arms. "What was that?" I asked, my heart switching between worry, panic and anger.

"It was a TV show called Avatar: The Last airbender. It tells about your adventures and no-one in our world thinks it's real," Jiana said honestly. I wished she was lying but from her eyes it was clear she wasn't.

"What's a TV show?" I asked, although I had a suspicion. Unfortunately, I was right.

"It's made-up entertainment for children. Like a combination of books and theatre," Rina explained.

"So I'm not real to you? Just a character from a story?" Anger and panic were rising in me. The air in the room became more and more restless.

"That's right," Jiana half-whispered, looking down.

I snapped. "That's the only reason you want to be my friend, isn't it?!" I shouted, the small winds turning into a bit of a gale. I was so mad; it was like back at the Air Temple! _The other Air Nomad kids treated me differently because I'm the Avatar, and now those three treat me differently because to them I'm make-believe! How **dare **they?_

"Goodbye!" I headed straight to the front door and opened it before banging it shut behind me.

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To be continued...

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So whatcha think?

The time of this chapter is six months before Sokka and Katara would have found Aang in that ice sphere.

Hope Aang's reaction was appropriate.

I know next to nothing about country girl accents, so... I'll just wing it. Don't be offended by any stupid sounding stuff I have Rina say. (Please?)

R&R!

PS. The ages in the cartoon shown in this are the original ages Sokka and Katara were supposed to be in canon. The show was mostly the same, but the "real" ATLA world is more like ours (in other words, less kiddie stuff and more reality).


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2. Summer of shocks**

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[Aang's POV]

I just ran. I didn't watch where I was going, and to be honest I didn't care. I just had to run away.

After my lungs started to feel like they were burning, I finally slowed down. I noticed a bench made from metal and went to sit on it.

Finally taking note of my surroundings, I looked up. A shocked gasp escaped me.

I saw strange buildings that were sky-high, and lots of colourful shops, and people going here and there, and strange carriage-like things that had nothing pulling them yet they could move.

_It's true! I really am in a whole other world!_

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[Jiana's POV]

"What do we do, Rina? He could be anywhere!" I said as we walked down a street. Rina was carrying Anay in a piggy back, who after an hour of walking got tired and was now half-asleep.

"Will y'all just calm down already? It ain't over yet; we will find him," my cousin said reassuringly.

"I sure hope so..." I mumbled, then quickly cheered up. _Might as well think positive!_

We asked around once again, and found a lead when an annoyed old man mentioned a bald kid in weird clothes had bumped into him before carrying on running.

"There he is!" I exclaimed when I spotted a familiar-looking figure in the distance on a bench. I took off running as fast as a racer dog, getting to him literally in no time at all. "Aang!"

He looked up, but didn't look all that angry anymore. "Oh. Hi, Jiana," the young Air Nomad greeted me, but he didn't sound happy.

"Are you OK? I never meant to hurt your feelings. I just thought you would find watching a show about yourself funny. I know I woulda. But then again, I'm really weird... Not that you're weird or anything! I mean... Uh..."

Aang laughed a little, and Rina said from behind me: "Ji, you're rambling."

"I guess I am," I conceded, rubbing my nose as was my habit.

"Kid, would ya like to come live with us? You don't really have anyplace else to go..." Rina offered. This surprised me. _What's with the change of heart?_

Aang smiled sincerely, standing up and giving a formal Air Nomad bow as he said: "I would be honoured."

_Huh. I guess he got over whatever was bothering him._

[Aang's POV]

I was grateful to Rina for offering to take me in. This world was so strange and unfamiliar, I didn't know if I could survive all by myself. And the monks had always said requiring knowledge was never a bad thing.

I couldn't help warming up to the girls and Anay too. I could tell they didn't really mean to hurt my feelings, so I forgave them.

* * *

So, once we got back to the apartment, Rina put Anay to bed while Jiana and I sat on the living room floor. "If you're his sister, how come Anay has an Air Nomad name and you a Fire Nation one?" I asked.

"Really? Our names are from those nations?" Jiana returned my question with one of her own. She was clearly surprised, and maybe a little awed.

"Yes. And Rina's is a fairly common name that can be used in any of the four nations."

"Cool! Rina's a common name in some countries here too. I always thought mine and Anay's are Asian."

"Can you tell me about this world?"

"Seems fair. And you can explain to us some more about yours. We know bits and pieces, but definitely not everything. And it's not as if we can tell which parts are true and which ones aren't."

"Deal! We can share stories. But first..." I quickly plucked a piece of that strange food off the plate that was on the tray. "What is this food? I've never seen anything like it."

"Sandwiches!" Jiana laughed, taking one too and putting it into her mouth. I bit into mine, and was surprised by the mix of jam and something sticky, tasty and tiniest bit bitter. The 'sandwich' tasted pretty good! "PB an' J sandwiches!"

* * *

That night, I was sitting on Rina's mattress that had been set out next to Jiana's bed. The girls told me that there was another mattress in the living room behind the sofa that her dad used to sleep on. Anay used to have a crib but it was now sold away and so he slept in Jiana's bed instead. The apartment was really small, so all three kids shared the only bedroom. I felt bad for making the place even more crowded, but Jiana said "the more the merrier", whatever that meant.

She was next to me, and Rina was on the bed with Anay on her lap. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I'm gonna take Uncle's mattress, you and Anay, Jiana, share the bed and Aang can have your mattress."

"Fine with me," Jiana said, and I nodded in agreement.

"Okay, next order of business. Exchanging stories. How 'bout we play a game of 20 questions?" Rina said. Anay at once clapped his hands, pleased.

"Yeah!" he cheered. Jiana and I chuckled, nodding. I had no idea what this game was, but I was sure it wouldn't be hard to catch on.

"First question, hobbies. Mine are karate, dancing whenever I want to, singing and pranking people," Jiana said, putting up four fingers before ticking them off one by one.

"Hobbies? Like things to do?" I asked, just to check I understood. When she nodded, I smiled. "Mine are playing airball, playing pai sho with Monk Gyatso, who's my main guardian and teacher, having fun with my friends, and riding on all sorts of animals."

"Cool. Can you teach us how to play airball sometime? We don't have the wood poles or those round things, but we can use something else as a substitute, right?"

"I never really thought of that. Lets do it tomorrow!" We both grinned.

"Rina's turn."

"My hobbies are playin' guitar an' karate," she replied. I couldn't help being a little captivated by her strange way of talking. It didn't sound bad, just that I'd never heard of it before. I liked it, though.

"Mine's playing, playing, and some more playing," Anay finished the round.

Jiana started again: "Next up, favourite foods. Mine's French fries, yum." To me, she explained those were potatoes cut into many "fingers" that were fried in oil and then eaten with a sauce called ketchup. I had to admit, if they had no meat in them, I would be happy to try some.

"Mine is fruit cake," I told my new friends.

"Chocolate and pizza," Rina stated.

"Ice cream! Loads and loads of ice cream!" Anay shouted, making us all laugh even though I had no idea what pizza and ice cream were. Chocolate I had heard of; only the really rich could afford it though Bumi and I managed to sneak some from the king's palace at Omashu.

I sighed in content; it has been ages since I last felt like I belonged!

* * *

_I can believe a whole __**week**__ has passed already,_ I thought one day. Every morning Rina made us all breakfast (luckily for me, they understood that I'm a vegetarian), Jiana and Anay would play with me, and all four of us would spend most of the day going on long walks while the others explained to me about their world and I compared the similarities and differences to my own. I never met their parents or guardians, though. But that didn't bother me, and anyway Rina was over 16.

The seven days seemed to pass by in a blur; I was having so much fun! Jiana loaned me some of her clothes; I now wore a light orange 'turtle-neck shirt', those fingerless gloves and the cap, and blue 'jean-shorts'.

But on the 7th day, everything changed …

* * *

[Rina's POV]

"… Yes, I understand. … No, that's not necessary. (Sigh.) … Yes, I'm sure. Thank you for calling." I hung up the phone and turned to look at the three kids over my shoulder. Jiana was teaching Aang how to play 'Twister', and they were constantly cracking up despite being as tangled as a fishing cord.

I squared my shoulders and walked towards them with my chin up. _The blunt way is best…_ "Jiana, Anay, your dad's dead."

The laughter went on as if they hadn't heard me, but soon enough the little urchins quietened. "Haha, really funny, Ri," Jiana said, but I could see anxiety appearing in her eyes.

I sat down cross-legged, sighed, then explained: "That was the hospital. Ji, your dad was more ill than he let us think. Remember how he collapsed ages ago and got put into hospital **again**?" My cousin nodded. "His liver cancer is far worse than ever before. The doctors tried to help him, but he had a stroke during the surgery. Uncle Yuka's gone."

Anay burst into tears, Aang looked at Jiana sympathetically, and the tomboy just trembled with a single tear sliding down her cheek. They fell into a dog pile, but no-one was laughing.

After untangling themselves, Jiana hugged her knees with her chin resting on them, sitting against the sofa and looking almost like a stone statue, Anay scrambled over to me and buried his face against my chest, and Aang just sat there looking down.

For an hour we remained like that, but then I'd had enough. Still holding the toddler, I got up and said firmly: "Stand up, you two."

Aang obeyed at once, probably because of my 'do-it-now-or-else' tone. Jiana looked like she hadn't heard.

"Jiana, get up this instant," I told her, leaving no room for argument.

"Bossy," my female cousin mumbled, getting up.

"OK, here's what we'll do y'all – we're going to the park and staying there for the whole day. We can picnic there too; I'll buy us some grub from McDonald's."

* * *

At the park, I sat on the grass watching Anay and Jiana learning how to play airball from Aang. they were standing on a small boulder each with plenty more on the grass between the two teams as a replacement for the wooden poles used in the real game. Two pairs of trees were the goals.

"{Blaa blaa}," Aang instructed my cousins, a smile starting to form on his face, "{Insert canon quotes!}"

Aang demonstrated by making a ball of air and kicking it as if it was a soccer ball. The airball bounced off the rocks until it got to Jiana and Anay. Before she could react, the 12-year-old got thrown off her rock by the airball hitting her square on the stomach. It then flew through the trees.

"Ouch," Jiana mumbled, rubbing her backside and standing up.

"Score! Aang, one; Jiana and Anay, zero," the young Avatar shouted, grinning.

My cousin huffed in annoyance, getting back onto her rock. "Not for long," she said determinedly, her lips twitching into a smile.

I smiled too; I knew if my happy-go-lucky cousins had something fun to do, their minds would be off their dad's death. _Uncle Yuka really shoulda at least __**tried**__ to get better._

"Again! Again!" Anay cheered, clapping.

"Okay, here goes," Aang said, making another airball and hitting it like a volleyball. As it bounced from the rocks, Jiana got into position to kick it back, but it ended up to Anay instead. The 5-year-old just barely managed to stay on his rock as he grabbed onto the airball, but it faded away immediately.

The game went on, with Aang leading for the most part although Jiana and Anay did manage to kick back the ball a couple times.

Laughing, the female preteen jumped into the air and kicked the airball as hard as she could. It rocketed towards Aang at top-speed and hit him square on the stomach, making the bald kid fall off his rock.

"Y'all have gotta be kidding me…" I mumbled in disbelief.

Jiana stared at where the young Avatar had fallen, looking confused. Anay looked much the same, glancing back and forth between the two. Aang got up, beaming in a way kids did when they got something they'd **really** wanted for Christmas.

"You're an airbender!" Aang exclaimed.

"But… What…? Huh?!" was all my cousin could say.

"I actually have an explanation for this," I said calmly, forcing the bile that had risen in my throat to go back down. Holding out my hand, I willed a tiny flame into appearing on my palm. And it did.

* * *

To be continued...

* * *

Aang calmed down fast because that's the impression I got of him in the show. He has no problem getting mad at people sometimes, but rarely holds a grudge and even more rarely carries on said grudge for long periods of time. Also, he's glad to make friends and have a place to stay because he's A KID.

R&R!


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